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Photos by Jon Anderson
Sci fi costume winners
The top three winners of the costume contest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library were, from left, Jessica Collier of Gadsden (Sombra from the Overwatch video game), Blythe Stovall of Trussville (Merida from "Brave" and "Braveheart," and Ilissa McGowin of Hoover (Widowmaker from Overwatch).
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Photos by Jon Anderson
Sci fi costume judges choice
Three judges' choice winners in the costume contest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library were, from left, Ezekiel Addams of Columbiana (Javar from "Aladdin,") Terry Collier of Gadsden (Negan from "The Walking Dead,") and Suzanne Crowson of Gardendale (Wicked Witch of the West from "Wicked.")
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi costume winners 2
The top six winners in the costume contest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library included, from left, third-place winner Ilissa McGowin of Hoover (Widowmaker from the Overwatch video game), first-place winner Jessica Collier of Gadsden (Sombra from Overwatch), Ezekiel Addams of Columbiana (Javar from "Aladdin,") Suzanne Crowson of Gardendale (Wicked Witch of the West from "Wicked,") Terry Collier of Gadsden (Negan from "The Walking Dead,") and second-place winner Blythe Stovall of Trussville (Merida from "Brave" with a little bit of "Braveheart.")
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi costume Sombra
The winner of the costume contest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library was Jessica Collier of Gadsden (dressed as the Sombra character from the Overwatch video game).
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi costume merida
The second-place winner of the costume contest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library was Blythe Stovall of Trussville (portraying a mix of Merida from "Brave" and Mel Gibson's William Wallace character from "Braveheart."
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi costume widowmaker
The third-place winner of the costume contest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library was Illissa McGowin of Hoover, dressed as the Widowmaker character from the Overwatch video game.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
sci fi costume negan
One of three "judges' choice" winners in the costume contest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library was Terry Collier of Gadsden, dressed as Negan from "The Walking Dead."
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci Fi costume witch
One of three "judges' choice" winners in the costume contest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library was Suzanne Crowson of Gardendale, dressed as the Wicked Witch of the West from "Wicked.")
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci Fi costume Jafar
One of three "judges' choice" winners in the costume contest at 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library was Ezekiel Addams of Columbiana, dressed as Jafar from "Aladdin."
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci Fi costume Sombra Widowmaker
The third-place and first-place winners in the costume contest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library were, from left, Illisa McGowin of Hoover (Widowmaker from the Overwatch video game) and Jessica Collier (Sombra from Overwatch).
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi costume Negan Merida
Two of six winners in the costume contest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library were Terry Collier of Gadsden (Negan from "The Walking Dead") and Blythe Stovall of Trussville (dressed as a combination of Merida from "Brave" and Mel Gibson's William Wallace character in "Braveheart."
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi costume Jafar witch
Two of the "judges' choice" award winners in the costume contest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library were Ezekiel Addams of Columbiana (Jafar from "Aladdin,") and Suzanne Crowson of Gardendale (Wicked Witch of the West from "Wicked.")
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi costume Kaneki Toriel
Two participants in the costume contest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library were, from left, Sam Lindsay of Vestavia Hills (Kaneki anime character) and Sophie Cooper of Warrior (Toriel from the Undertale role playing game.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi costume Blasingame
Cheyenne Blasingame of Clay was a participant in the costume contest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, July 29, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 1
Korey Grant of Birmingham, Alabama, was among guests at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama. He was dressed as his "fairy person," RoboFox.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 2
One of the sessions at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama., was "Paranormal Witness: The Voodoo Preacher."
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 3
Madalyn Cohron, a fiction librarian at the Hoover Public Library, was the emcee for the costume contest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the library. She was dressed as the Death character from the "Sandman" graphic novel.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 4
Anastasia Zellner, dressed as Pearl from the "Steven Universe" cartoon show, was a guest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, July 29, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 5
Jaden, Fran and Gabe Lipsey of Hoover, Alabama were guests at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, July 29, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 6
Jordan Willey of Hoover, Alabama, and Shawn Hunt of Leeds, Alabama — members of the Magic City Lego Users Group — worked a table at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, July 29, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 7
John Anderson, an actor and comedian from Birmingham, Alabama, who played a ravager in the "Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2," was a featured guest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, July 29, 2017. Here, he greets fans in the vendor room.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 9
Rebecca Nation of the Oak Mountain community in north Shelby County, sews a piece of cloth for a wallet she is making for a guest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, July 29, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 10
Peter Sugg of the Inverness community in north Shelby County demonstrates how to make chainmaille at his table in the vendor room at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, July 29, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 11
Vendors were set up in the Hoover Library Plaza at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, July 29, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 12
Author Pepper Thorn was among vendors at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, July 29, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 13
Artist Bryan Crowson and his wife, Suzanne of Gardendale, Alabama, were among guests at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, July 29, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 14
Ezekiel Addams and his mother, Victoria Addams, both of Columbiana, were among guests at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, July 29, 2017. Ezekiel was dressed as Jafar from "Aladdin," and his mother was dressed as Cruelle de Ville from "101 Dalmatians."
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 15
Katie Jane Morris, a children's librarian at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama, was dressed as Cruella Deville from "101 Dalmatians" for the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the library on Saturday, July 29, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 16
Vendors were set up in the Hoover Library Plaza at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, July 29, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 17
The Alabama Ghostbusters had a table at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, July 29, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 18
The auditorium at the Hoover Senior Center in Hoover, Alabama was set up for open gaming as part of the Hoover Public Library's 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest on Saturday, July 29, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 19
Matt White of Bud's Place Games and Comics in Leeds, Alabama, had a table set up to sell and demonstrate board games at the Hoover Senior Center as part of the Hoover Public Library's 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest on Saturday, July 29, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 20
Dustin Gwin of Shelby County, Dewey Belcher of Hoover and William Barber of Center Point, play the Ethnos board game at the Hoover Senior Center in Hoover, Alabama as part of the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest put on by the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, July 29, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Sci fi fantasy 21
Merita Cruz of Calera, Alabama, and Barry Smith of Pell City, Alabama, play the Star Trek Ascendency game at the Hoover Senior Center in Hoover, Alabama while attending the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest put on by the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, July 29, 2017.
Women ruled the costume contest at the third annual Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library Saturday night.
Jessica Collier of Gadsden walked away with first place among the 20 contestants, portraying the Sombra character from the Overwatch video game.
Second place went to Blythe Stovall of Trussville (dressed as Merida from the “Brave” movie, with a dose of Mel Gibson’s William Wallace character in “Braveheart.”)
Hoover’s own Illissa McGowin came in third, sporting a costume from another Overwatch character called the Widowmaker.
The judges picked three others as “judges’ choice” selections. One was Collier’s father, Terry Collier, who portrayed Negan from “The Walking Dead.” The other two were Suzanne Crowson of Gardendale, dressed as the Wicked Witch of the West in “Wicked,” and Ezekiel Addams of Columbiana, dressed as Javar from “Aladdin.”
Photos by Jon Anderson
Sci fi costume judges choice
Three judges' choice winners in the costume contest at the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest at the Hoover Public Library were, from left, Ezekiel Addams of Columbiana (Javar from "Aladdin,") Terry Collier of Gadsden (Negan from "The Walking Dead,") and Suzanne Crowson of Gardendale (Wicked Witch of the West from "Wicked.")
Here’s a video showing most of the contest. The first couple of contestants were accidentally skipped.
The library’s Sci Fi Fantasy Fest is a three-day event that began Friday and ends Sunday. It includes sessions on gaming, TV and media, Star Wars, Star Trek, cosplay, writing, comics and the paranormal.
In the first two days, this year’s festival already has drawn a bigger crowd than last year, when more than 2,100 people came, chairwoman Krysten Griffin said. An estimate was not yet available and would need to come from the library's automatic people counters, she said.
Some of the most popular aspects of the festival so far have been the prop building contest, live Dungeons and Dragons play, open board game play at the Hoover Senior Center, and a passionate debate about whether the Harry Potter series is better than the Star Wars series, Griffin said.
Saturday also featured John Anderson, an actor and comedian from Birmingham who landed a role as a ravager in the recently released “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.” Anderson also appeared in “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Sleepy Hollow,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” “The Case for Christ,” “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” “MacGyver,” “Being Mary Jane” and Tyler Perry’s “Too Close to Home.”
Activities on Sunday go from 2 to 6 p.m. and include two workshops at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on how to make a sheet of chainmaille. Chainmaille is a type of armour made of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh-like material. The cost is $10 per person. Each participant will receive pliers and steel rings to make one sheet of chainmaille. Space is limited.
Other Sunday activities include open gaming, a breakout room, an Artemis Spaceship bridge simulator, a science fiction double feature of “It Came From Outer Space” and “Forbidden Planet” in the Hoover Library Theatre, a session on epic failure sci-fi shows that never took off, and sessions related to Star Trek and Star Wars. Admision is free, except for the chainmaille workshops.
Read more about the 2017 Sci Fi Fantasy Fest here, and see the complete schedule here.
